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On Friday night,
Octavius James/One In A Million Inc. promoted their
first event in Indy, "The Circle City Rumble," before an
enthusiastic crowd.
In the first bout, Chicago super featherweight Evette
Collazo (2-0, 2 KOs), a former 2-time Chicago Golden
Gloves Champion, quickly over powered Milwaukee's Kelah
Pollari (0-4). At 1:51 of round one, Pollari told
referee Tony Gray, "I'm done," and the bout went into
the books as a TKO.
Up next, Shelbyville's light welterweight Frankie
"Panchito" Zepeda (15-5, 9 KOs) entered the ring to
thunderous support supplied by a huge turn out of Indy's
growing Mexican-American community. Zepeda faced Fort
Wayne's Paul Reyes (2-7, 1 KO) in what was a typical
Mexican-warrior bombs- away bout.
In the second round, Zepeda seemed to be breaking Reyes
down with an assault of perfectly placed body shots
resulting in an eight-count for Reyes. Zepeda, a
southpaw, and Reyes had frequent inconsequential head
butts that foreshadowed an early and bloody end.
In the third, Zepeda attacked again, but Reyes returned
enough fire to keep the bout going. An accidental head
butt cut caused an ugly gash above the right eye of
Reyes and, much to the disappointment of Zepeda fans
filling the house, the bout was ruled a No Contest after
the third.
After the official result was announced, Zepeda asked
announcer Joe York to make a special dedication on his
behalf. York announced to the fans that Frankie
dedicated this bout to his corner woman, Vickki Marconi,
who was, as always, working Zepeda's corner. Marconi
recently beat breast cancer and her own fight has been a
great source of inspiration to Frankie.
After York's moving tribute to Vickki, who is clearly
loved and respected in Indy, Rodney Langel of Langel's
Pizza announced that he would make a $1000 donation to
Passionately Pink in her honor. One In A Million Inc.
also made a donation to Passionately Pink campaign and
encourages fans to go to PassionatelyPink.com to make a
donation of their own during October, Breast Cancer
Awareness Month.
In the Rumble's third bout, Indy's "Downtown" Louis
Brown (15-4, 10 KOs), who rivaled Zepeda in fan support,
was upset by GI Joseph Pujoe (7-5-1, 1 KO) in a
welterweight bout. In what ringside locals referred to
as "one of the best local fights they've ever seen,"
Brown dropped a unanimous decision (53-60, 54-59 twice)
to the spoiler, Pujoe.
After a first round "feeling out" session, the two got
down to action in the second. Pujoe, a southpaw,
suffered a cut over his right eye due to an accidental
head butt. There was nothing but back-and-forth, hard
punching action through the fifth round when Pujoe
dropped Brown with a flurry.
Brown rose easily with a "you didn't hurt me" motion and
the brawl was back on. After six rounds, the crowd gave
the two fighters a standing ovation for a bout exciting
enough to call for a re-match.
In the evening's main event, Gary, Indiana's "Merciless"
Mary McGee (12-0, 7) won her first championship bout and
the NABC Light Welterweight title with her fifth-round
TKO over Tawnyah Freeman (8-5, 3 KOs).
McGee dropped Freeman for the first time in round three
and twice in the fourth. McGee, who got stronger and
sharper as the fight went on, finished Freeman off at
1:12 of the fifth.
"At first, it was hard for me to settle down," McGee
said after the victory. "But I looked to my corner and
my trainer Carlos (Jones) told me to relax and do what
we worked on in the gym. So that's what I did. When
she threw her jab, I moved and then dropped her."
"I nailed her perfectly," McGee continued. "Now I want
Amy Yuratovac. I'm tired of hearing her name."
A
heavyweight bout between Luke Dunnuck and Leo Sylvest
was scrapped when Dunnuck failed the pre-fight
physicals. |